Authoring Software and Platforms for Electronic Literature and New Media hosted by Judy Malloy:

A resource for teachers and students of new media writing, who are exploring what authoring tools to use, for new media writers and poets, who are interested in how their colleagues approach their work, and for readers, who want to understand how new media writers and poets create their work, Authoring Software is an ongoing collection of statements about authoring tools and software. It also looks at the relationship between interface and content in new media writing and at how the innovative use of authoring tools and the creation of new authoring tools have expanded digital writing/hypertext writing/net narrative practice in this vibrant contemporary creative writing field. Continue reading

As pioneer in the field, the Database of Virtual Art (DVA) has been documenting the rapidly evolving digital installation art for more than a decade. Cooperating with known media artists, researchers and institutions as members allows the DVA to develop into the collective project in the field. There have been a number of online archives supported over the years, but almost all no longer have funding and have either disappeared or exist in a frozen condition.

The DVA is beginning a renewed phase of further development with existing and new members. Based on the concept of expanded documentation it epitomizes a collective, project dedicated to media art. 500 artists selected from over 5,000 applicants offer the best selection of thousands of high quality artworks. Besides the artists, more than 300 theorists and media art historians are contributors. The DVA is a scholarly project and from the beginning a university-based endeavor. Continue reading

Turkopticon — a Firefox 3.0 extension — adds functionality to Amazon Mechanical Turk as you browse for HITs and review status of work you’ve done. As you browse HITs, Turkopticon places a button next to each requester and highlights requesters for whom there are reviews from other workers. Bad reviews let you avoid shady employers and good reviews help you find fair ones. You can view reports made against requesters with a quick click. As you review HITs you’ve completed, are there HITs you weren’t fairly paid for? Turkopticon adds a button that lets you review requesters from your “Status Detail” page.

Mechanical Turk is a site where requesters can put up tasks with a set price — usually pennies to a dollar — and find workers who will do those tasks. Some do AMT for fun and many enjoy it as work. However, many use it to make ends meet when they have few other choices.

Open Source Embroidery Access Space, Suzanne Brook Martin, Ele Carpenter, Iain Clark, Eclectic Tech Carnival, Emma Ferguson, Flare Productions, Paul Grimmer, Richard Hamilton, Suzanne Hardy, HUMlab Workers, James Hutchinson, Charlene Lam, Kristina Lindström & Åsa Stahl, Sampler Collective, Sophie McDonald & Davide Della Casa, Travis Meinolf, Kate Pemberton, Trevor Pitt, Michele Pred, Clare Ruddock, Hamilton, Southern & St Amand, Becky Stern, Haishu Zhang :: June 6 - September 6, 2009 :: Bildmuseet, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.

The Open Source Embroidery exhibition presents artworks that use embroidery and code as a tool for participatory production and distribution. The Open Source Embroidery project includes workshops and exhibitions which investigate how the open source software development model has been incorporated into the language of cultural participation. Continue reading

Open Translation Tools 2009 (OTT09) :: June 22-24, 2009 :: Amsterdam, The Netherlands :: Call for Participants!

OTT09 will be followed by an Open Translation “Book Sprint” which will produce a first-of-its-kind volume on tools and best practices in the field of Open Translation. Both events are being co-organized in partnership with FLOSSManuals.net and Translate.org.za, and generously supported by the Open Society Institute. Continue reading

openFrameworks: an introduction — a 3 days workshop by Zachary Lieberman, Arturo Castro and Theo Watson :: May 28-30, 2009 :: iMAL, Quai des Charbonnages, Brussels.

This workshop is an introduction to the openFrameworks library. OpenFrameworks is a C++ library for creative coding. It is designed to assist the creative process by providing a simple and intuitive framework for experimentation. Simply put, openFrameworks is a tool that makes it much easier to make things via code, and here via compiled and fast C++ code giving access to the full power of the machine and its operating system. Continue reading

Mobiles in a Box: Tools and Tactics for Mobile Advocacy!: Mobiles in-a-box from the Tactical Technology Collective is a collection of tools, tactics, how-to guides and case studies designed to help advocacy and activist organisations use mobile technology in their work.

Mobiles in-a-box is designed to inspire you, to present possibilities for the use of mobile telephony in your work and to introduce you to some tools which may help you. After reading the material in this toolkit you can expect to be able to design and implement a mobile advocacy strategy for your organisation. Continue reading

Art and Code — a symposium on programming environments for artists, young people, and the rest of us :: March 7-9, 2009 :: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.

Art and Code features hands-on workshops and a conference showcase for eight different creative toolkits — programming languages made by artists, for artists. Presenters include: Tom McMail, Microsoft Research; Dr. Wanda Dann, Carnegie Mellon; Don Slater, Carnegie Mellon; Ben Fry, Processing; Casey Reas, UCLA, Processing; Daniel Shiffman, NYU, Processing; Ira Greenberg, Miami U. of Ohio, Processing + Flash; Luke DuBois, Max/MSP/Jitter; Zachary Lieberman, Parsons School of Design, openFrameworks; Theodore Watson, openFrameworks; Arturo Castro, openFrameworks; Sebastian Oschatz, vvvv.org & meso.net; why the lucky stiff, Hackety Hack; Evelyn Eastmond, MIT Media Laboratory; John Maloney, MIT Media Laboratory, Scratch; DeVaris Brown, Microsoft, Silverlight; Dr. Woohoo, Flex; Golan Levin, Carnegie Mellon (Conference Organizer).

Tactical Tech is an international NGO working at the point where advocacy meets technology. We use our technical expertise to increase the impact of campaigns in social justice and human rights. Tactical Tech believes that new technologies have significant potential to enhance the work of campaigners and advocates, giving them the tools to gather and analyse information and the means to turn that information into action.

To help make this possible, Tactical Tech has, over the past four years, trained nearly 1,000 advocates and technologists in developing and transition countries in the use of technology for social change, provided consultancy and mentoring to over ten NGO movements and networks and created a suite of toolkits and guides specifically for use by advocates. Continue reading

Storytelling is fundamental to being human: itʼs how we share our experiences, learn from our past, and imagine our future.

With the establishment of the Media Labʼs Center for Future Storytelling, the Media Lab, together with Plymouth Rock Studios, is rethinking what “storytelling” will be in the 21st century. The Center will take a dynamic new approach to storytelling, developing new creative methods, technologies, and learning programs that recognize and respond to the changing communications landscape.

The Center builds on the Media Labʼs more than 20 years of experience in developing society-changing technologies for human expression and interactivity, and will now take this to the next level. Continue reading